Welcome to the International Skeptics Forum, where we discuss skepticism, critical thinking, the paranormal and science in a friendly but lively way. You are currently viewing the forum as a guest, which means you are missing out on discussing matters that are of interest to you. Please consider
registering so you can gain full use of the forum features and interact with other Members. Registration is simple, fast and free! Click here to register today.

Why hasn't science solved the great mystery of why I get pee shivers so often, my 2 year old daughter occasionally gets them, and my wife almost never gets them? Anyone else experience these sudden shivers after relieving a loaded bladder? I read some theories, and can immediately dismiss some of them.

One theorized men get the shivers while women don't because men pee standing up... though never really explains why that would matter. Well, I pee sitting down. I admit it. I will pee standing if I must, but will gladly sit if given the opportunity. Why? Splash back. I don't like pee spatter on my legs and the toilet, thank you very much. I have no idea why a grown man would pee standing up in most circumstances. But let's stay focused here.

Since I pee sitting down nearly as often as my wife, yet only I get to experience the joys of sudden onset shivers (SOS), that can't be it. And my daughter definitely gets these, so it isn't only a male thing. I do have pretty low resting blood pressure. My wife is well in the normal range.

YouTube Video This video is not hosted by the ISF. The ISF can not be held responsible for the suitability or legality of this material. By clicking the link below you agree to view content from an external website.

I don't know what the "condition" is called, but my Dad has passed out more than once after urinating, or perhaps during. The first time he banged his head pretty bad. I think he broke his nose.

The doctor said it was something fairly common but I don't remember what. It may be Micturition but that word doesn't sound familiar to me (I just googled the symptoms and found the word). He's never mentioned pee shivers.

I agree with the poster above who mentioned sitting down to do it. Yes it splashes out if you stand no matter how true your aim! If you're wearing shorts you will feel it. Ladies, if you are concerned about a man's aim, don't be. It's only half the story - it's on your floor either way

Micturition merely refers to the process of expelling urine. I don't suppose anyone has considered the possibility that maybe exposing sensitive anatomy to the open air might leave some individuals...but not others...cold?

“No one knows for certain what the specific trigger for the shivering is,” says Sheth, formerly director of the gastrointestinal motility program at Yale Medical School. But he points to two generally accepted variables to help solve this riddle.

First, the feeling “mostly” is experienced by males. Second, it “occurs most commonly while voiding large amounts of urine,” he says.

Or, to put it as delicately as possible, the icy jolt seems to hit after we’ve really, really had to go. Never after a tiny trickle.

According to Sheth, our parasympathetic nervous system (responsible for “rest-and-digest” functions) lowers the body’s blood pressure “to initiate urination.” One leading theory behind the shudder is that peeing can unleash a reactive response from the body’s sympathetic nervous system (which handles “fight or flight” actions).

On the cellular level, the body is theoretically flushed with catecholamines (which you know better as chemicals like dopamine or hormones like adrenaline). Those are dispatched to help restore or maintain blood pressure, Sheth says. But the microscopic energy bullets “may also trigger the shiver reflect.”

This theory, the author says, best explains “the gender difference as men pee standing up and, therefore, would be more prone to feeling the effects of a lower blood pressure, thereby triggering this exaggerated sympathetic nervous system response.

The last example also applies to the nether regions of the body. Micturition (urination) is also a positive feedback loop. The wall of the urinary bladder is built in such a way that there are several layers of cells. As the bladder fills up, the wall stretches and these cells move around until the wall is only a single cell thick. At this point, urination is inevitable (cannot be stopped by voluntary control). Beginning of the urination starts the movement of the cells back from single-layer state to multi-layer state. This contracts the bladder further which forces urine out even more which contracts the wall of the bladder even more, and so on until the bladder is completely empty again and everything goes back to normal.

I know. But there is still an interesting question behind my comments. How do we decide what would be a satisfactory explanation? Do we require 100% applicability in all circumstances before we say "yep that's it"?

It's a question that has implications far beyond the question of pee shiver. Do we sometimes reject correct answers to questions because we have set a bar too high?

__________________Bigfoot believers and Bigfoot skeptics are both plumb crazy. Each spends more than one minute per year thinking about Bigfoot.

YouTube Video This video is not hosted by the ISF. The ISF can not be held responsible for the suitability or legality of this material. By clicking the link below you agree to view content from an external website.

Edit. Just watched it and the answer is still not certain. no pee reviewed research has happened on the subject.

YouTube Video This video is not hosted by the ISF. The ISF can not be held responsible for the suitability or legality of this material. By clicking the link below you agree to view content from an external website.

I can get the shivers when beginning to urinate even if I "stop" before there is any flow. That leads me to think that this from above

Quote:

According to Sheth, our parasympathetic nervous system (responsible for “rest-and-digest” functions) lowers the body’s blood pressure “to initiate urination.” One leading theory behind the shudder is that peeing can unleash a reactive response from the body’s sympathetic nervous system (which handles “fight or flight” actions).

or something similar (possibly not blood pressure but something else related to "initiation") is the most likely cause.

Why hasn't science solved the great mystery of why I get pee shivers so often, my 2 year old daughter occasionally gets them, and my wife almost never gets them? Anyone else experience these sudden shivers after relieving a loaded bladder? I read some theories, and can immediately dismiss some of them.

One theorized men get the shivers while women don't because men pee standing up... though never really explains why that would matter. Well, I pee sitting down. I admit it. I will pee standing if I must, but will gladly sit if given the opportunity. Why? Splash back. I don't like pee spatter on my legs and the toilet, thank you very much. I have no idea why a grown man would pee standing up in most circumstances. But let's stay focused here.

Since I pee sitting down nearly as often as my wife, yet only I get to experience the joys of sudden onset shivers (SOS), that can't be it. And my daughter definitely gets these, so it isn't only a male thing. I do have pretty low resting blood pressure. My wife is well in the normal range.

If so, why doesn't my wife get them? Or many women for that matter apparently.

You must be doing it wrong. I am happy to give lessons.

Oh.... did you mean the shiver thing?

__________________"Reci bobu bob a popu pop." - Tanja
"Everything is physics. This does not mean that physics is everything." - Cuddles
"The entire practice of homeopathy can be substituted with the advice to "take two aspirins and call me in the morning." - Linda
"Homeopathy: I never knew there was so little in it." - BSM

Why hasn't science solved the great mystery of why I get pee shivers so often, my 2 year old daughter occasionally gets them, and my wife almost never gets them? Anyone else experience these sudden shivers after relieving a loaded bladder? I read some theories, and can immediately dismiss some of them.

One theorized men get the shivers while women don't because men pee standing up... though never really explains why that would matter. Well, I pee sitting down. I admit it. I will pee standing if I must, but will gladly sit if given the opportunity. Why? Splash back. I don't like pee spatter on my legs and the toilet, thank you very much. I have no idea why a grown man would pee standing up in most circumstances. But let's stay focused here.

Since I pee sitting down nearly as often as my wife, yet only I get to experience the joys of sudden onset shivers (SOS), that can't be it. And my daughter definitely gets these, so it isn't only a male thing. I do have pretty low resting blood pressure. My wife is well in the normal range.

Puns are highly encouraged in this thread.

It would matter if you experienced shivering more often when peeing standing up, because you'd be more likely to injure yourself if you fainted from a standing position than if you fainted from a sitting position.

And that's because, obviously enough, if you faint while standing, you have further to fall.

It would matter if you experienced shivering more often when peeing standing up, because you'd be more likely to injure yourself if you fainted from a standing position than if you fainted from a sitting position.

And that's because, obviously enough, if you faint while standing, you have further to fall.

Evolution?

In other words, the drop in blood pressure that would cause you to faint is more of an issue to your health/mortality if it happens while standing than sitting.

Maybe people are more sensitive to drops in blood pressure that happen while they are standing?

I know some people have POTS, which has something to do with dysregulation of their blood pressure when they change position (as from sitting to standing).